Tag Archives: YA fantasy

wake and fade banner

Book Review: Wake and Fade, by Lisa McMann

Some years back, I picked up a second-hand copy of Lisa McMann‘s Fade at a charity shop somewhere because it was signed. I do love a signed book. I didn’t know anything about it at the time, least of all that it is 2nd in the series. Well, as I’ve challenged myself to read my physical TBR books this year (and have, so far, managed to stick to it), I borrowed Wake from the library. I reviewed them as I finished them.

wake fade covers

For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people’s dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie’s seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime.

She can’t tell anybody about what she does they’d never believe her, or worse, they’d think she’s a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn’t want and can’t control.

Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else’s twisted psyche. She is a participant.

my review

Wake:

This was a seriously quick read. I started it after dinner, and by the time I went to bed around 11, I’d finished it and about a 1/3 of Fade (book 2). And to my complete surprise (because I’m sometimes iffy about YA), after a somewhat slow start, I enjoyed it. I liked the almost diary-like setup (part of why it reads so fast) and the main characters. I found the side characters to be pretty clichéd and unexciting. However, the book primarily focuses on the main character, who is a practical sort of girl in a tough situation, and her male counterpart, who is particularly endearing in his caregiving.

wake and fade

Fade:

I thought this was a finely written book, but I didn’t like it anywhere near as much as book one. I suffer from pretty severe rape-fatigue when it comes to rape in the books I read for entertainment and…yeah, I could go the rest of my life without reading one more book centered on men taking advantage of girls. So, the plot was a flop for me. But I can still acknowledge that I like the character and her love interest and appreciate McMann’s YA writing. There, technically, is a 3rd book in the series (and the library probably has it). But I feel like this book stopped at a good place for a break.


Other Reviews:

JKR Books: Wake & Fade

 

CHILD-OF-ETHERCLAW-TOUR-BANNER

Book Review: Child of Etherclaw, by Matty Roberts

I accepted a review copy of Child of Etherclaw, by Matty Roberts during it’s book tour with iRead Book Tours. It’s also been featured over on Sadie’s Spotlight. You can hop on over here for an excerpt and/or here for an author interview.

The bonds of family go well beyond blood.

But can those bonds hold when the blood itself carries a devastating secret?

Fenlee’s opal necklace had always radiated a certain warmth since her mother’s death. But now, at sixteen, her world begins to unravel as the stone sparks to life, revealing itself to be an otherworldly artifact of untold power.

Between her mechatronics studies at the academy and scavenging expeditions beneath the sprawling city of New Cascadia, Fenlee and her
adopted brother, Elliot, try to decipher the mysteries of her necklace and its link to events in Fenlee’s past.

But they’re not alone in their search.

Strange undercity dwellers offer cryptic warnings, drones track their movements, and deadly corporate agents lurk in the shadows. When tragedy rips Fenlee’s family apart, she must learn to use the artifact’s power to save those who are deeply precious to her. But nothing can prepare her for the dark truths that she will uncover on that journey…

“Lee,” Elliot mumbled. “I’m not who you think I am.”

my review

child of etherclaw photoWhat I appreciated most about this book was the myriad of representations. The main character is an amputee (without drama, it’s just her reality), there’s an adoptive family, found family, gender parity in a number of powerful characters, sexual and racial diversity, etc. But the writing is also very good, the cover is eye-catching, and I liked the characters a lot. I really felt the siblings’ love for one another.

I did think that the parental figure (and any apparent affection held toward them) was little more than contrivance, the side characters weren’t fleshed out well, the villain was a little cliched, there was some predictability, and just a few too many plot-convenient occurrences. But all in all, I’d be up for continuing the series.


Other Reviews:

Bluntly Bookish Book Review: Child of Etherclaw

 

Speechless in Achten Tan Tour-Banner

Book Review: Speechless in Achten Tan, by Debbie Iancu-Haddad

I accepted a review copy of Speechless in Achten Tan, by Debbie Iancu-Haddad, through R&R Book tours. The book was also featured over on Sadie’s Spotlight. So, you can hop over there for an excerpt, an interview with the author, and the schedule for the rest of the tour.

speechless with ants

Sometimes Magic leaves you…Speechless!

Eighteen-year-old Mila hasn’t spoken in the five years since she became an Onra, a first level Everfall witch. After failing the test to reclaim her voice and control her magic, her mentor sends Mila to Achten Tan – City of Dust – a dangerous desert town, built in the massive ribcage of an extinct leviathan.

To reclaim her power, Mila must steal a magical staff capable of releasing it, from the sky-high lair of the Bone Master, Chief Opu Haku.

Her only resources are the magical luminous elixirs of the cursed caverns where she grew up, and a band of unlikely allies; a quirky inventor, a giant-ant rider, a healer, a librarian’s assistant, a Tar-tule rider and the chief’s playboy son.

But in the City of Bones, enemies & friends are not who they seem and trusting the wrong person can be deadly.

If Mila fails she will never speak again and her bones may be added to the wasteland.

 


Review:

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, the writing is really quite good. The characters are likable. The world is interesting. There’s some fun diversity in the characters. It concludes (no cliffie), and I see lots of room for expansion in future books. Plus, we have gnomes as main characters without it being all cutsie-cutsie! So, on that one hand, I really enjoyed it.

On the other hand, however, there seems to be a disconnect between the tone of the book and the actual events of the plot. The book feels like an older teen high school drama, of the ‘who’s going to win the big team rivalry’ or ‘take down the school bully’ sort. (I mean, I literally started to visualize Geb in a letterman jacket every time he slung his arm over Mila’s shoulder or waist.) But the things happening in the story are literally life and death. This left the tension…not lacking, exactly, but discordant. Plus, every near-death felt jarringly out of place.

I liked the book enough to read the sample of book two at the end (something I don’t usually bother with) and am interested in continuing the series. I liked Kaii a lot as a character, and I am interested to see what happens to him.

Speechless in Achten Tan photo


Other Reviews:

Riss Reviews: Speechless in Achten Tan book review